You’d be forgiven at this point for not even realising that a trilogy of films adapting Ayn Rand’s Objectivist 1957 doorstop Atlas Shrugged, beloved of total dicks the world over, is already two thirds completed. That’s because the first two films bombed, commercially and critically, and so there’s a good chance that you are not one of the literally dozens of people who paid to see them, turning ‘who is John Galt?’ from cryptic mantra to genuine question. Part One, released in 2011, has a Metacritic rating of 28 and made back only $4,627,375 of its $20 million budget.

Gareth Howard is CEO and founder of Authoright, a company which provides high-end but affordable author services. They essentially help traditional publishers, self publishing companies, literary agents, indies, literary agents, international book fairs and direct-publishing tech platforms to understand the needs of authors and to future-proof their businesses at a time of change. Authoright are proud sponsors of BookMachine New York. Fabrizio Luccitti interviews Gareth for BookMachine.

23September2013

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It’s a big week here at BookMachine HQ! BookMachine.me is launching in public beta, and we’re hosting events in 6 cities around the globe (all thanks to our amazing event hosts, speakers and sponsors!)

We’ve been racking our brains trying to think of what image should sit behind user profiles (a bit like a default Facebook cover images for all users), and have decided to launch a competition to find the best image.

What’s in it for you? Well, aside from seeing your choice of image on every single BookMachine.me profile, you’ll also be accredited on every page – that means your brand will be seen by thousands of site users. Not bad, eh?

What are we looking for? We don’t have a fixed idea, the best we’ve come up with so far is an Autumnal scene featuring a park bench somewhere in NYC. Read this article about our vision and send something over that you think will fit. It needs to be the same dimensions as a Facebook cover photo (851 pixels wide / 315 pixels tall); and you need to have the rights to use it, or have created it yourself.

The not-so-small print We need it in the next 36 hours ideally… (typical pre-launch frenzy going on here)

Having seemingly realised that the market for this kind of thing isn’t going away any time soon, Pan Macmilan Australia’s digital imprint, Momentum, has launched another new imprint, Momentum Moonlight, dedicated to publishing romance, erotica and new adult titles (the new adult titles presumably falling on the grown-up Twilight, less-chaste epic romance end of the spectrum than the post-adolescence Hunger Games, where there’s no time for love what with all the dystopianism). Around the imprint, it also aims to build up an online community of romance readers, centred around a blog to which community members can contribute.

Sophie Kahan has a great job. She is the Manager of Publisher Promotions at KOBO. As part of her role, she develops eBook promotions for retailers such as Indigo Books & Music, Kobo’s award-winning eReaders and apps. She also partakes in events including Book Expo America and the London Book Fair. Tahira Rahemtulla interviews Sophie, ahead of her talk at BookMachine Toronto.

23September2013

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Julieta Lionetti has more than 20 years experience in the book industry. An international trade publisher until 2007, she has embraced the digital (r)evolution from its inception. On Wednesday she’ll be speaking at BookMachine Barcelona“On How Freakin’ Techies Taught Me To Love Literature Again”. Fabrizio Luccitti interviews Julieta for BookMachine.

23September2013

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One of the things that has changed, in this new socially-enabled world we live in, is the accessibility of authors.

This is not just about me. Writers such as Chuck Palahniuk (The Fight Club), Paul Coelho (The Alchemist) and Margaret Atwood (The Handmaids Tale) are all Tweeting. These are among the most popular authors in the world. There are lots more at it too. Here is a list of 100 mainly US authors for starters. (click here)

The long-in-the-works autobiography that Morrissey talked about having more or less finished in early 2011 – entitled, naturally, Autobiography – was due for publication in the UK this week through Penguin, with bookshops across the country whipping their Truman Capote sections back into shape for the Mozmoir’s 16 September arrival. As obsessive Morrissey fans (edited for redundancy) no doubt noticed, however, Monday came and went with nary a swoon nor a shoplift.

Julia Kingsford began her career in the marketing department at Random House and used to manage Foyles’ events before becoming Head of Marketing and Communications. She chaired the brainstorming session at which the idea for World Book Night was first born and became its CEO in 2011. Julia will be our speaker at BookMachine Brighton, so Sarah Ann Juckes interviewed her, to find out more.